Social media nicotine markets: Criminogenic affordances and market displacements

Illicit drug markets continuously evolve in response to legal regulations, and digital markets similarly adapt, balancing the convenience of online contact with the security of offline transactions. The regulation of nicotine products follows a similar trajectory. In Denmark, efforts to curb youth nicotine consumption have led to legislation targeting single-use flavoured vape products, in turn leading to the emergence of illicit social media-based nicotine markets. This criminological paper investigates the dynamics of these markets on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, focusing on the interplay between platform affordances and seller behaviours.

This study draws on ethnographic observations of Danish online nicotine markets on social media over a period of 12 months, complemented by 12 qualitative interviews with sellers within these markets.

Grey markets for nicotine products flourish on surface-level social media and displacement occurs within social media markets and seller practices. Further we document how platform features facilitate opportunities for buyers to drift towards markets for illicit drugs and other illegal products and services. Sellers describe the market as open, with low barriers of entry. Nicotine vapes are also perceived as a preferable product to sell with low punitive measures and enforcement priority, while being less harmful than cigarettes and drugs.

Illicit nicotine vape markets are available on every social media platform. They mimic the structures of illicit drug markets, and share to a degree the same online spaces as algorithms push users from one site to the next. Platform algorithms, coupled with features like enhanced user reach and anonymity, create an environment that seller sperceive as low-risk and highly profitable. The combination of these factors is ultimately very damaging for those buying and consuming the products, who are for the most part young people. Efforts must also address the unintended negative consequences of current regulations.